Moving robot and control method thereof

ABSTRACT

A moving robot includes a main body, a drive assembly moving the main body, and a cleaner head performing cleaning on a cleaning area in which the main body is positioned, wherein the drive assembly includes a plurality of pulleys, a motor connected to any one of the plurality of pulleys and generating a driving force, a belt rotated in contact with the plurality of pulleys, and a support shaft connected to some of the plurality of pulleys and changing a position of the pulley such that an area in which the belt is in contact with a ground or an obstacle is maintained to be equal to or greater than a reference area.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(a), this application claims the benefit ofearlier filing date and right of priority to Korean Application No.10-2016-0020792, filed in Korea on Feb. 22, 2016, the contents of whichis incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates to a moving robot and a control methodthereof, and particularly, to a moving robot capable of passing throughan obstacle and a control method thereof.

2. Background

In general, robots have been developed for industrial purposes and havebeen in charge of part of factory automation. Recently, robot-appliedfields have further extended to develop medical robots or aerospacerobots, and home robots that may be used in general houses have alsobeen made.

A typical example of a home robot is a robot cleaner, which may be ahome appliance that cleans by sucking ambient dust or foreign objects,while traveling in a predetermined area. Such a robot cleaner mayinclude a generally rechargeable battery and have an obstacle sensorcapable of avoiding an obstacle during traveling so that the robotcleaner may perform cleaning while traveling.

Recently, beyond performing cleaning while robot cleaners are simplyautonomously traveling in a cleaning area, research into utilization ofrobot cleaners in various fields such as healthcare, smart home, remotecontrol, and the like, has been actively conducted. When a robot cleanerperforms autonomous traveling in a cleaning area, the robot may meetvarious obstacles present in the cleaning area, and thus, an algorithmfor avoiding such obstacles when performing autonomous traveling andcleaning operation may be required.

However, when a bottom surface of the cleaning area is not even, if allsurface portions which are not even are recognized as obstacles, acleaning range may be reduced, and thus, a recognition reference relatedto an obstacle may not be set too strictly. Thus, when the robot cleanerpasses through a portion of the bottom surface without recognizing anuneven portion of the bottom surface as an obstacle, at least one of aplurality of wheels may not come into contact with the bottom surface,generating idle rotation, making it impossible for the robot cleaner tonormally travel.

Also, when at least one of the plurality of wheels of the robot cleaneris completely arrested, the arrested state of the wheel may not bereleased only by an output from a motor.

Thus, a robot cleaner that solves an idle rotation phenomenon and acomplete arrest phenomenon of the wheel that may occur when the robotcleaner passes on bottom surfaces of various conditions and a controlmethod thereof may be required.

A robot cleaner may have various types of driving devices and travelingperformance of a robot cleaner may be varied according to types of thedriving unit. A robot cleaner may have a main driving wheel connected toa separately operable motor and an auxiliary driving wheel minimizing africtional contact between a lower surface of a main body and a floorsurface (cleaning target surface). The main driving wheel and auxiliarydriving wheel of the driving device used in a robot cleaner may have acircular shape.

A case in which a caterpillar having a circular shape is applied to arobot cleaner has been introduced. A robot cleaner having such acaterpillar type driving unit may be suitable for traveling on an unevenfloor surface. However, when the robot cleaner employing the caterpillarmeets an obstacle as a target to be passed such as a threshold, therobot cleaner may not properly pass through the obstacle and the drivingunit may be arrested by the obstacle.

In particular, due to an irregular portion of the floor surface, a rearsurface of the robot may be in contact with the floor surface and thedriving unit may idly rotate in a floating state. In a robot describedin Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1530704, an angle between left andright auxiliary caterpillar modules and left and right main caterpillarsmay be changed to correspond to a height or a slope of an obstacle tosecure a frictional force regarding the obstacle by the left and rightauxiliary caterpillars.

However, in the related art robot, it may not be possible to secure africtional force regarding an obstacle only by the main caterpillar, andan auxiliary caterpillar installed on a side surface of the maincaterpillar may be required. Thus, manufacturing cost of the robot toinstall the auxiliary caterpillar may be increased, and since separatepower should be supplied to the auxiliary caterpillar, efficiency ofpower consumed in the robot may be reduced.

Also, since the auxiliary caterpillar is added, a weight of a main bodyof the robot may be increased to cause user inconvenience. When africtional force regarding an obstacle is secured using the auxiliarycaterpillar as in the related art robot, a width of the main body of therobot may be excessively increased to make it more difficult for therobot to pass through an obstacle than a robot without such an auxiliarycaterpillar.

Also, when the related art robot passes over an obstacle, only powertransmitted to the auxiliary caterpillar may be used and idle rotationstill may occur in the main caterpillar. The above references areincorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriateteachings of additional or alternative details, features and/ortechnical background.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the followingdrawings in which like reference numerals refer to like elements, andwherein:

FIG. 1A is a conceptual view illustrating a rear surface of a movingrobot according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating components of a moving robotaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 2A to 2C are conceptual views specifically illustrating a drivingunit of a moving robot according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 3A to 3C are conceptual views specifically illustrating a drivingunit of a moving robot according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment related to a controlmethod of a moving robot according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Description will now be given in detail of the exemplary embodiments,with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the sake of briefdescription with reference to the drawings, the same or equivalentcomponents will be provided with the same reference numbers, anddescription thereof will not be repeated.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a moving robot 100 may include a main body 10prepared to be movable. For example, when the moving robot 100 is arobot cleaner, the main body 10 may include a cleaning unit (or vacuum)generating a suction force.

A driving unit capable of moving the main body 10 in a desired directionand rotating the main body 10 may be provided in the main body 10. Thedriving unit may include a plurality of rotatable wheels, and each ofthe wheels may be separately rotated and the main body 10 may be rotatedin a desired direction. In detail, the driving unit may include at leastone main driving wheel 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, and 130 d, and auxiliarywheel 130 e. For example, the main driving wheel may be installed on alower surface of the main body 10.

As illustrated in FIG. 1B, a moving robot according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure may include at least one of a communication unitor module 110, an input unit (or input) 120, a driving unit (or drive)130, a sensing unit (or sensor) 140, an output unit (or output) 150, apower supply unit (or power supply) 160, a memory 170, and a controller180, and a combination thereof. The components illustrated in FIG. 1Bare not essential and a robot cleaner having fewer or greater componentsmay be implemented. Hereinafter, the components will be described.

The power supply unit 160 may include a battery that can be charged byan external commercial power source and supplies power to the movingrobot. The power supply unit 160 may supply driving power to eachcomponent included in the moving robot to supply operation powerrequired for the moving robot to travel or perform a specific function.

The controller 180 may sense a remaining power capacity of the battery,and when the remaining power capacity is insufficient, the controller180 may control the moving robot to move to a charging station connectedto an external commercial power source and charge the battery uponreceiving a charge current from the charging station. The battery may beconnected to a battery sensing unit (or battery sensor) and a remainingbattery capacity and a charge state may be transferred to the controller180. The output unit 150 may display a remaining battery capacity on ascreen by the controller.

The battery may be positioned at or in a lower portion of the center ofthe robot cleaner or may be positioned on any one of left and rightsides of the robot cleaner. In the latter case, the moving robot mayfurther include a balance weight to resolve bias in weight of thebattery.

The driving unit 130 may include a motor and drive the motor to rotateleft and right main wheels of the main body of the moving robot in bothdirections to rotate or move the main body. The driving unit 130 maymove the main body of the moving robot forwards/backwards andleftwards/rightwards, or enable the main body of the moving robot totravel in a curved manner or rotate in place.

The input unit 120 may receive various control commands regarding therobot cleaner from a user. The input unit 120 may include one or morebuttons, for example, an OK button, a setting button, and the like. TheOK button may receive a command to check detection information, obstacleinformation, position information, and map information from the user,and the setting button may receive a command to set the aforementionedtypes of information from the user.

The input unit 120 may include an input resetting button to cancel aprevious user input and receive a user input again, a delete button todelete a preset user input, a button to set or change an operation mode,or a button to receive a command to return to the charging station. Theinput unit 120 may be installed in an upper portion of the moving robot,as a hard key, a soft key, or a touch pad. The input unit 120 may have aform of a touch screen together with the output unit 150.

Meanwhile, the output unit 150 may be installed in or at an upperportion of the moving robot. An installation position or an installationform thereof may be varied. For example, the output unit 150 may displaya battery state or a traveling scheme.

The output unit 150 may output information regarding a state of aninterior of the moving robot detected by the sensor 140, for example, acurrent state of each component included in the moving robot. The outputunit 150 may display external state information, obstacle information,position information, and map information detected by the sensor 140 ona screen. The output unit 150 may be configured as at least one deviceamong a light emitting diode (LED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), aplasma display panel (PDP), an organic light emitting diode (OLED).

The output unit 150 may further include a sound output unit (or soundoutput) audibly outputting an operational process or an operation resultof the moving robot performed by the controller 180. For example, theoutput unit 150 may output a warning sound outwardly according to awarning signal generated by the controller 180.

The sound output unit may output a sound, such as a beeper, a speaker,and the like, and the output unit 150 may output audio data or messagedata having a predetermined pattern stored in the memory 170 through thesound output unit. Thus, the moving robot according to an embodiment mayoutput environment information regarding a traveling region on a screenor output it as a sound through the output unit 150. Also, according toanother embodiment, the moving robot may transmit map information orenvironment information to a terminal device through the communicationunit 110 such that the terminal device may output a screen or a sound tobe output through the output unit 150.

The communication unit 110 may be connected to the terminal deviceand/or a different device positioned within a specific region (whichwill be used together with a “home appliance” in this disclosure)according to one communication scheme among wired, wireless, andsatellite communication schemes to transmit and receive data. Thecommunication unit 110 may transmit and receive data to and from adifferent device positioned within a specific region. Here, thedifferent device may be any device as long as it can be connected to anetwork and transmit and receive data. For example, the different devicemay be an air-conditioner, a heating device, an air purifier, a lamp, aTV, an automobile, and the like. The different device may also be asensor sensing a temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, a gas, andthe like.

Meanwhile, the memory 170 may store a control program controlling ordriving the robot cleaner and data corresponding thereto. The memory 170may store audio information, image information, obstacle information,position information, map information, and the like. Also, the memory170 may store information related to a traveling pattern.

As the memory 170, a non-volatile memory may be commonly used. Here, thenon-volatile memory (NVM) (or NVRAM) may be capable of continuouslymaintaining stored information even though power is not applied thereto.For example, the memory 170 may be a ROM, a flash memory, a magneticcomputer storage device (for example, a hard disk or a magnetic tape),an optical disk drive, a magnetic RAM, a PRAM, and the like.

The sensor 140 may include at least one of an external signal sensor, afront sensor, and a cliff sensor. The external signal sensor may sensean external signal of the moving robot. The external signal sensor maybe, for example, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an RF sensor,or the like.

The moving robot may check a position and a direction of the chargingstation upon receiving a guide signal generated by the charging stationusing the external signal sensor. The charging station may transmit theguide signal indicating a direction and a distance such that the movingrobot may be returned. Upon receiving the signal transmitted from thecharging station, the moving robot may determine a current position andset a movement direction to return to the charging station.

The front sensor may be installed at a predetermined interval on a frontside of the moving robot, specifically, along an outer circumferentialsurface of a side surface of the moving robot. The front sensor may bepositioned on at least one side surface of the moving robot to sense anobstacle ahead. The front sensor may sense an object, in particular, anobstacle, present in a movement direction of the moving robot andtransfer detection information to the controller 180. The front sensormay sense a protrusion present in a movement path of the moving robot,furnishings, furniture, a wall surface, a wall corner, or the like, in ahouse, and transmit corresponding information to the controller 180.

The front sensor may be, for example, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonicsensor, an RF sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, or the like, and the movingrobot may use a type of sensor or two or more types of sensors togetheras the front sensor. For example, in general, the ultrasonic sensor maybe mainly used to sense an obstacle in a remote area. The ultrasonicsensor may include a transmission unit or module and a reception unit ormodule. The controller 180 may determine whether an obstacle is presentaccording to whether an ultrasonic wave radiated through thetransmission unit is reflected by an obstacle, or the like, and receivedby the reception unit, and calculate a distance to the obstacle by usingan ultrasonic wave radiation time and an ultrasonic wave reception time.

The controller 180 may detect information related to a size of anobstacle by comparing an ultrasonic wave radiated from the transmissionunit and an ultrasonic wave received by the reception unit. For example,as a larger amount of ultrasonic waves is received by the receptionunit, the controller 180 may determine that the size of the obstacle islarger.

In an embodiment, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors (for example, fiveultrasonic sensors) may be installed on an outer circumferential surfaceof a front side of the moving robot. Preferably, the transmission unitsand the reception units of the ultrasonic sensors may be installedalternately on the front side of the moving robot.

The transmission units may be spaced apart from the center of the frontside of the main body of the moving robot, and in this case, one or twoor more transmission units may be positioned between reception units toform a reception region of an ultrasonic signal reflected from theobstacle, or the like. Due to this disposition, a reception region maybe expanded, while reducing the number of sensors. A transmission angleof ultrasonic waves may be maintained at an angle of a range which doesnot affect other signals to prevent a crosstalk phenomenon. Also,reception sensitivity of the reception units may be set to be different.

The ultrasonic sensors may be installed upwardly at a predeterminedangle such that ultrasonic waves generated by the ultrasonic sensors areoutput upwardly, and in this case, in order to prevent the ultrasonicwaves from being radiated downwardly, a predetermined blocking membermay be further provided. As mentioned above, two or more types ofsensors may be used as the front sensors, and thus, one or more types ofsensor among an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and an RF sensormay be used as the front sensors. The front sensor may include aninfrared sensor as a different type of sensor, in addition to theultrasonic sensor.

The infrared sensor may be installed on an outer circumferential surfaceof the moving robot together with the ultrasonic sensor. The infraredsensor may also sense an obstacle present in front of or by the side ofthe moving robot and transmit corresponding obstacle information to thecontroller 180. The infrared sensor may sense a protrusion present in amovement path of the moving robot, furnishings, furniture, a wallsurface, a wall corner, and the like, in a house, and transmitcorresponding information to the controller 180. Thus, the moving robotmay move within a cleaning area without colliding with an obstacle.

As the cliff sensor, various types of optical sensors may be used, andthe cliff sensor may sense an obstacle of the floor supporting the mainbody of the moving robot. The cliff sensor may be installed on a rearsurface of the moving robot 100 and may be installed in differentregions depending on a type of a moving robot. The cliff sensor may bepositioned on a rear surface of the moving robot to sense an obstacle onthe floor. The cliff sensor may be an infrared sensor including a lightemitting unit or device and a light receiving unit or module, anultrasonic sensor, an RF signal, a position sensitive detector (PSD)sensor, or the like, like the obstacle sensor.

Any one of cliff sensors may be installed on the front side of themoving robot, and the other two cliff sensors may be installed on a rearside. The cliff sensor may be a PSD sensor or may include a plurality ofdifferent types of sensor.

The PSD sensor may detect the positions of the short and long distancesof an incident light with a single p-n junction by using the surfaceresistance of a semiconductor. The PSD sensor may include a 1D PSDsensor that detects light on a single axis and a 2D PSD sensor that maydetect the position of light on the surface, and each may have a pinphotodiode structure. The PSD sensor may be a type of infrared sensorwhich transmits an infrared ray to an obstacle and measures an anglebetween the infrared ray transmitted to the obstacle and infrared rayreturned after being reflected from the obstacle, thus measuring adistance therebetween. The PSD sensor may calculate a distance to theobstacle using triangulation.

The PSD sensor may include a light emitting unit emitting infrared lightto an obstacle and a light receiving unit receiving infrared lightreturned after being reflected from the obstacle. In general, the PSDsensor may be a module. In a case in which an obstacle is sensed byusing the PSD sensor, a stable measurement value may be obtainedregardless of difference in reflectivity or color of the obstacle. Thecontroller 180 may measure an angle between an infrared light emittingsignal irradiated by the cliff sensor toward the floor and a reflectionsignal received after being reflected from the obstacle to sense acliff, and analyze a depth thereof.

The controller 180 may determine whether the moving robot may be able topass through a cliff according to a floor state of the cliff sensed byusing the cliff sensor. For example, the controller 180 may determinewhether a cliff is present and a depth of the cliff through the cliffsensor and only when a reflection signal is sensed by the cliff sensor,the controller 180 may allow the moving robot to pass through the cliff.In another example, the controller 180 may determine whether the movingrobot is lifted using the cliff sensor.

A lower camera sensor may be provided on a rear surface of the movingrobot and obtain image information regarding a lower side, namely, thefloor (or a surface to be cleaned) during movement. The lower camerasensor provided on the rear surface may be defined as a lower camerasensor and may also be called an optical flow sensor. The lower camerasensor may convert an image of the lower side input from an image sensorprovided therein to generate a predetermined format of image data. Thegenerated image data may be stored in the memory 170.

One or more light sources may be installed to be adjacent to an imagesensor. One or more light sources may irradiate light to a predeterminedregion of the floor captured by the image sensor. Namely, in a case inwhich the moving robot moves a cleaning region along the floor, when thefloor is smooth, a predetermined distance may be maintained between theimage sensor and the floor. On the other hand, in a case in which themoving robot moves on a floor which is uneven, the image sensor maybecome away from the floor by a predetermined distance or greater due todepressions and protrusions and an obstacle of the floor. In this case,the one or more light sources may be controlled by the controller 180such that an amount of irradiated light can be adjusted. The lightsources may be a light emitting device, for example, a light emittingdiode (LED), or the like, whose amount of light can be adjusted.

The controller 180 may detect a position of the moving robot regardlessof whether the moving robot slides by using the lower camera sensor. Thecontroller 180 may compare and analyze image data captured by the lowercamera sensor over time to calculate a movement distance and a movementdirection, and calculate a position of the moving robot on the basis ofthe calculated movement distance and the movement direction. By usingthe image information regarding the lower side of the moving robot usingthe lower camera sensor, the controller 180 may perform correctionresistant to sliding with respect to a position of the moving robotcalculated by other means.

An upper camera sensor may be installed to face an upper side or a frontside of the moving robot to capture images around the moving robot. Whenthe moving robot includes a plurality of camera sensors, the camerasensors may be formed at or in an upper portion or on a side surface ofthe moving robot at a predetermined distance or at a predeterminedangle.

Meanwhile the upper camera sensor may face an upper side or front sideof the moving robot to capture an image around the moving robot. Whenthe moving robot has a plurality of upper camera sensors, the camerasensors may be provided on an upper portion or a side surface of themoving robot at a predetermined distance or at a predetermined angle.

Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the driving unit 130 may be formed as abelt or a caterpillar. As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the driving unit 130may include a motor 131, a pulley 132, a belt 133, a support member (orsupport shaft) 135, and a spring member (or spring) 134.

In detail, the driving unit 130 may include a plurality of pulleys, andthe motor 131 may be connected to any one of the plurality of pulleys togenerate a driving force. For example, a pulley connected to the motor131 may be a fixed pulley whose installation position is not changed.The plurality of pulleys may be fixed to a certain point of the mainbody or may be flexibly installed such that a relative position thereofwith respect to the main body is changed. In this manner, the fixedlyinstalled pulley may be provided on the front line or final line on thebasis of a moving direction of the robot.

The belt 133 may be rotated, while being in contact with the pluralityof pulleys provided in the driving unit 130. The support member 135 maybe connected to some of the plurality of pulleys.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the support member 135 may be connected to some ofthe plurality of pulleys which are flexibly installed. The supportmember 135 may be connected to some of the plurality of pulleys whichare not connected to the motor. The support member 135 may connectmutually facing pulleys.

In an embodiment, the support member 135 may change a position of apulley such that an area in which the belt 133 is in contact with aground or an obstacle is maintained to be equal or greater than areference area. The reference area may be defined as a minimum area inwhich the belt 133 and a ground or an obstacle are in contact is inorder to not to cause a slip between the belt 133 and the ground or theobstacle.

When the area in which the belt 133 being rotated in contact with thefloor surface of an obstacle is less than the reference area, a slip mayoccur between the belt 133 and the floor surface or the obstacle. Also,when the area in which the belt 133 being rotated in contact with thefloor surface of an obstacle is equal to or greater than the referencearea, the robot may pass through the floor surface or the obstacle in astate in which a slip does not occur between the belt 133 and the floorsurface or the obstacle.

Thus, the reference area may be an area in which the belt 133 of therobot is in contact with the floor surface and the obstacle in order toprovide a minimal frictional force to the robot such that a slip doesnot occur between the belt 133 and the floor surface or the obstacle.The reference area may be defined by multiplying a specific ratio valueto an area value formed by an external surface of the belt 133 or may bedefined as a predetermined absolute area value.

The support member 135 may change a position of the pulley such that anattack angle formed between the belt 133 and an obstacle is maintainedwith a preset angle range. According to the FIG. 2C, the attack angle θis defined as an angle formed by a virtual line (V-Line) connecting acontact point (P) between the belt 133 and an obstacle and a center of avirtual circle 200 in contact with one surface of the belt 133, withrespect to the ground. A frictional force applied to the belt 133 of thedriving unit 130 may be increased as the attack angle θ is closer to 90degrees.

When the attack angle formed by the belt 133 being rotated with respectto the obstacle is not within the preset angle range, a slip may occurbetween the belt 133 and the ground or the obstacle. When the attackangle formed by the belt 133 being rotated with respect to the obstacleis within the preset angle range, the robot may pass through the groundor over the obstacle in a state in which a slip does not occur betweenthe belt 133 and the ground or the obstacle.

The support member 135 may adjust a shape of a polygon formed by thebelt 133 such that an area in which the belt 133 is in contact with theground or the obstacle is maintained to be equal to or greater than thereference area. The support member 135 may change a position of thepulley such that torque applied to the belt 133 is maintained to bewithin a reference torque range.

The spring member 134 may be connected to a portion of the supportmember 135 and the main body. The spring member 134 may perform abuffering operation with respect to the driving unit 130 from anexternal impact or may move the support member 135.

A specific embodiment of the driving unit illustrated in FIG. 2A will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 2B. Referring to FIG. 2B, the drivingunit 130 may include a first pulley 137 a connected to the motor 131, asecond pulley 137 b facing the first pulley 137 a, and a third pulley132 a and a fourth pulley 132 b connected to the support member.

In detail, the first pulley 137 a may be connected to the motor 131 todirectly receive a driving force from the motor 131. The first pulley137 a may be fixed. Also, the second pulley 137 b facing the firstpulley 137 a may be fixed.

Meanwhile, the third and fourth pulleys 132 a and 132 b connected to thesupport member 135 may be flexibly installed such that an installationposition is changed. In response to an external force applied to thedriving unit 130, a length and a position of the support member 135 andan angle of the support member 135 with respect to the main body may bechanged.

In addition, the support member 135 may change a position of the pulleyin response to the external force, independently of the driving unit 130and the controller 180 controlling an operation of the cleaning unit.The support member 135 may be formed of an elastic material. The supportmember 135 may be formed such that a length thereof is changed.

Accordingly, the length of the support member 135 may be changedaccording to a change in an external force applied to the driving unit130. The length of the support member 135 may be passively changed by anexternal force independently from a control signal from the controller180.

One point of the support member 135 may be fixed to the main body, andthe support member 135 may be installed to be rotatable on the basis ofthe one point of the main body. Accordingly, an angle between thesupport member 135 and the main body may be passively changed accordingto an external force applied to the driving unit 130.

A length of the spring member 134 may be changed according to a changein an external force applied to the driving unit 130. A length of thespring member 134 may be passively changed by an external forceindependently from a control signal from the controller 180. In thiscase, a distance between the third and fourth pulleys may be fixed bythe support member 135.

Although not shown in FIG. 2B, the driving unit 130 may have a pluralityof support members 135. The driving unit 130 illustrated in FIG. 2B mayhave four pulleys, and in this case, the driving unit 130 may includeone support member 135. However, the driving unit 130 may have six ormore pulleys, and in this case, the driving unit 130 may include two ormore support members 135.

A restoring member applying a restoring force to an initial installationposition may be provided in the pulleys or the support member of thedriving unit 130. A limiting member 136 limiting a movement range fromthe initial installation position may be provided in the pulleys or thesupport member of the driving unit 130.

Hereinafter, an embodiment related to an operation of the driving unit130 when the driving unit 130 is in contact with an obstacle 300 will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. Referring to FIG. 3A, alength of a spring member 134 of a first driving unit 130 a and a seconddriving unit 130 b in contact with the obstacle 300 may be differentfrom a length of a spring member 134 of a third driving unit 130 c and afourth driving unit 130 d not in contact with the obstacle 300. Asillustrated in FIG. 3A, a length of the spring member 134 of the firstdriving unit 130 a and the second driving unit 130 b in contact with theobstacle 300 may be shorter than the length of the spring member 134 ofthe third driving unit 130 c and the fourth driving unit 130 d not incontact with the obstacle 300.

Specific components of the driving unit 130 in contact with the obstacle300 are illustrated in FIG. 3B. For reference, the driving unit 130 notin contact with the obstacle 300 is illustrated in FIG. 2B describedabove.

When a position of the support member 135 of FIG. 2B and a position ofthe support member 135 of FIG. 3B are compared, the support member 135of the driving unit 130 in contact with the obstacle 300 may be movedupwardly, relative to the support member 135 of the driving unit 130 notin contact with the obstacle 300. When an external force is applied tothe driving unit 130, a position of the support member 135 may bechanged according to a reduction in a length of the spring member 134.

According to FIG. 3C, the attack angle θ is defined as an angle formedby a virtual line (V-Line) connecting a contact point (P) between thebelt 133 and an obstacle and a center of a virtual circle 200 in contactwith one surface of the belt 133, with respect to the ground. Africtional force applied to the belt 133 of the driving unit 130 may beincreased as the attack angle θ is closer to 90 degrees.

Meanwhile, although not shown in FIGS. 2B and 3B, a binding memberbinding the third and fourth pulleys 132 a and 132 b and the limitingmember 136 may be provided on one surface of the third pulley 132 a andthe fourth pulley 132 b, and a movement range of the third and fourthpulleys may be limited by the binding member. The limiting member 136may be a rod coupled to the first and second pulleys which are fixedlyinstalled, and the third and fourth pulleys may include a binding memberformed to have a hook shape that may be caught by the limiting member136. For example, a direction in which the binding member of the thirdpulley is installed and a direction in which the binding member of thefourth pulley is installed may be opposite to each other.

Meanwhile, the controller 180 may control an operation of the drivingunit 130 on the basis of information related to an obstacle or theground sensed by the sensor. For example, the sensor may be a visionsensor such as a camera or may be an ultrasonic sensor. The sensor mayalso be a camera generating 3D information.

The controller 180 may change at least one of a length of the supportmember 135, a position of the support member 135, and an angle betweenthe support member 135 and the main body on the basis of informationsensed by the sensor. The information sensed by the sensor may includeinformation related to at least one of a height, a surface, and a shapeof an obstacle positioned in a moving direction of the main body. Thesensor may sense information related to tension of the belt, and in thiscase, the controller 180 may control the driving unit to maintaintension of the belt to be equal to or greater than reference tension onthe basis of the information sensed by the sensor.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment related to a method for controlling anoperation of the driving unit 130 according to a control signal from thecontroller 180. The sensor of the moving robot may be positioned in amoving direction of the robot or may sense information related to anobstacle positioned near the robot (S401).

The controller 180 may detect a height of the obstacle on the basis ofthe information sensed by the sensor (S402). The controller 180 maydetermine whether the driving unit 130 is in contact with the obstacleon the basis of the information sensed by the sensor. When the drivingunit 130 is in contact with the obstacle, the controller 180 may detectan angle between the obstacle and the driving unit 130 (S403).

The controller 180 may move the driving shaft of the driving unit 130 orthe support member 135 on the basis of at least one of the height of theobstacle and the detected angle (S404). When at least one of a pluralityof wheels idly rotates while the robot is passing through a bottomsurface having various conditions, the robot may escape from the idlerotation state using a driving force independently of the main wheel.

When at least one of a plurality of wheels is arrested by an obstaclewhile the robot is passing through a bottom surface having variousconditions, the robot may escape from the arrested state using a drivingforce independently of the main wheel. Since a rough area movingperformance may be enhanced by adding a simple device to the drivingunit without attaching a separate sensor to the robot, movingperformance of the robot may be significantly enhanced at low cost.

The robot having wheels may easily move in a rough area. When a cleaningarea is a rough area, even when an obstacle is present in the cleaningarea, cleaning efficiency of the robot may be enhanced.

A moving robot may include a caterpillar type driving unit moving a mainbody, while maintaining an area equal to or greater than a referencearea with respect to a ground or an obstacle. The moving robot mayinclude: a main body; a driving unit moving the main body; and acleaning unit performing cleaning on a cleaning area in which the mainbody is positioned.

The driving unit may include a plurality of pulleys; a motor connectedto any one of the plurality of pulleys and generating a driving force; abelt rotated in contact with the plurality of pulleys; and a supportmember connected to some of the plurality of pulleys and changing aposition of the pulley such that an area in which the belt is in contactwith a ground or an obstacle is maintained to be equal to or greaterthan a reference area. When the area in which the belt is in contactwith the ground or the obstacle is equal to or greater than thereference area, the main body may pass through the ground or theobstacle without causing a slip to occur between the belt and the groundor the obstacle.

In response to an external force applied to the driving unit, at leastone of a length of the support member, a position of the support member,and an angle between the support member and the main body may bechanged. The moving robot may further include a controller controllingan operation of the driving unit and the cleaning unit, wherein thesupport member may change a position of the pulley in response to theexternal force, independently of the controller.

The support member may be formed of an elastic material, and a length ofthe support member may be changed according to a change in the externalforce. One point of the support member may be fixed to the main body,and the support member may be installed to be rotatable on the basis ofthe one point according to a change in the external force.

The moving robot may further include: a sensor sensing informationrelated to the ground or the obstacle; and a controller controlling thedriving unit on the basis of the information sensed by the sensor. Thecontroller may change at least one of a length of the support member, aposition of the support member, and an angle between the support memberand the main body on the basis of the information sensed by the sensor.

The information sensed by the sensor may include information related toat least one of a height, a surface, and a shape of an obstaclepositioned in a moving direction of the main body. The sensor may senseinformation related to tension of the belt, and the controller maycontrol the driving unit to maintain tension of the belt to be equal toor greater than reference tension on the basis of the information sensedby the sensor.

The driving unit may further include: a spring member connected to eachof a portion of the support member and the main body. The support membermay be connected to each of pulleys facing each other among theplurality of pulleys. The driving unit may include a plurality ofsupport members.

A moving robot may include a main body; a driving unit moving the mainbody; and a cleaning unit performing cleaning on a cleaning area inwhich the main body is positioned, wherein the driving unit may include:a plurality of pulleys; a motor connected to any one of the plurality ofpulleys and generating a driving force; a belt rotated in contact withthe plurality of pulleys; and a support member connected to some of theplurality of pulleys and changing a position of the pulley such that anattack angle between the belt and an obstacle is maintained to be withina preset angle range, and when the attack angle between the belt and theobstacle is included in the preset angle range, the main body passesthrough the obstacle without causing a slip to occur between the beltand the obstacle.

A moving robot may include a main body; a driving unit moving the mainbody; and a cleaning unit performing cleaning on a cleaning area inwhich the main body is positioned, wherein the driving unit may include:a plurality of pulleys; a motor connected to any one of the plurality ofpulleys and generating a driving force; a belt rotated in contact withthe plurality of pulleys; and a support member connected to some of theplurality of pulleys and adjusting a shape of a polygon formed by thebelt such that an area in which the belt is in contact with a ground oran obstacle is maintained to be equal to or greater than a referencearea, wherein when the area in which the belt is in contact with theground or the obstacle is equal to or greater than the reference area,the main body may pass through the ground or the obstacle withoutcausing a slip to occur between the belt and the ground or the obstacle.

When at least one of a plurality of wheels idly rotates while the robotis passing through a bottom surface having various conditions, the robotmay escape from the idle rotation state using a driving forceindependently of the main wheel. When at least one of a plurality ofwheels is arrested by an obstacle while the robot is passing through abottom surface having various conditions, the robot may escape from thearrested state using a driving force independently of the main wheel.

Since a rough area moving performance may be enhanced by adding a simpledevice to the driving unit without attaching a separate sensor to therobot, moving performance of the robot may be significantly enhanced atlow cost. The robot having wheels may easily move a rough area.

When a cleaning area is a rough area, even when an obstacle is presentin the cleaning area, cleaning efficiency of the robot may be enhanced.Since the robot can pass through an obstacle without an auxiliary wheelunlike the related art robot, manufacturing cost and weight of the robotmay be reduced and power efficiency of the robot may be increased,compared with the related art robot. Since a width of the main body ofthe robot is reduced, the robot may easily pass through an obstacle,compared with the related art robot.

Further scope of applicability of the present application will becomemore apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However,it should be understood that the detailed description and specificexamples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, aregiven by way of illustration only, since various changes andmodifications within the scope of the invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art from the detailed description.

The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely exemplary and arenot to be considered as limiting the present disclosure. The presentteachings can be readily applied to other types of apparatuses. Thisdescription is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scopeof the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will beapparent to those skilled in the art. The features, structures, methods,and other characteristics of the exemplary embodiments described hereinmay be combined in various ways to obtain additional and/or alternativeexemplary embodiments.

As the present features may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the characteristics thereof, it should also be understoodthat the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of thedetails of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, butrather should be considered broadly within its scope as defined in theappended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fallwithin the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalents of such metesand bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.

Any reference in this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “example embodiment,” etc., means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Theappearances of such phrases in various places in the specification arenot necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Further, when aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic is described inconnection with any embodiment, it is submitted that it is within thepurview of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, orcharacteristic in connection with other ones of the embodiments.

Although embodiments have been described with reference to a number ofillustrative embodiments thereof, it should be understood that numerousother modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled inthe art that will fall within the spirit and scope of the principles ofthis disclosure. More particularly, various variations and modificationsare possible in the component parts and/or arrangements of the subjectcombination arrangement within the scope of the disclosure, the drawingsand the appended claims. In addition to variations and modifications inthe component parts and/or arrangements, alternative uses will also beapparent to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A moving robot performing automatic traveling,the moving robot comprising: a main body; a drive assembly moving themain body; and a cleaner head to clean a surface area, wherein the driveassembly includes: a plurality of pulleys; a motor connected to any oneof the plurality of pulleys and generating a driving force; a belt incontact with and configured to rotate along the plurality of pulleys;and a support shaft connected to at least two of the plurality ofpulleys and configured to change a position of the at least two of theplurality of pulleys such that an area in which the belt is in contactwith a ground or an obstacle is equal to or greater than a referencearea, and when the area in which the belt is in contact with the groundor the obstacle is equal to or greater than the reference area, the mainbody passes along the ground or over the obstacle to prevent slippagebetween the belt and the ground or the obstacle.
 2. The moving robot ofclaim 1, wherein, in response to an external force applied to the driveassembly, at least one of a length of the support shaft, a position ofthe support shaft, and an angle between the support shaft and the mainbody is changed.
 3. The moving robot of claim 2, further including: acontroller to control an operation of the drive assembly and the cleanerhead, wherein the support shaft changes a position of the at least twoof the plurality of pulleys in response to the external force,independently of the controller.
 4. The moving robot of claim 3, whereinthe support shaft is formed of an elastic material, and a length of thesupport shaft is changed according to a change in the external force. 5.The moving robot of claim 3, wherein a first point of the support shaftis fixed to the main body, and the support shaft is installed to berotatable on the basis of the first point according to a change in theexternal force.
 6. The moving robot of claim 1, further including: asensor sensing information related to the ground or the obstacle; and acontroller controlling the drive assembly on the basis of theinformation sensed by the sensor.
 7. The moving robot of claim 6,wherein the controller changes at least one of a length of the supportshaft, a position of the support shaft, and an angle between the supportshaft and the main body on the basis of the information sensed by thesensor.
 8. The moving robot of claim 7, wherein the information sensedby the sensor includes information related to at least one of a height,a surface, and a shape of an obstacle positioned in a moving directionof the main body.
 9. The moving robot of claim 6, wherein the sensorsenses information related to tension of the belt, and the controllercontrols the drive assembly to maintain tension of the belt to be equalto or greater than a reference tension on the basis of the informationsensed by the sensor.
 10. The moving robot of claim 1, wherein the driveassembly further includes a spring connected to each of a portion of thesupport shaft and the main body.
 11. The moving robot of claim 1,wherein the support shaft is connected to each of pulleys facing eachother among the plurality of pulleys.
 12. The moving robot of claim 1,wherein the drive assembly includes a plurality of support shafts.
 13. Amoving robot performing automatic traveling, the moving robotcomprising: a main body; a drive assembly moving the main body; and acleaner head to clean a surface area, wherein the drive assemblyincludes: a plurality of pulleys; a motor connected to any one of theplurality of pulleys and generating a driving force; a belt in contactwith and configured to rotate along the plurality of pulleys; and asupport shaft connected to at least two of the plurality of pulleys andchanging a position of the at least two of the plurality of pulleys suchthat an attack angle between the belt and an obstacle is maintained tobe within a preset angle range, and when the attack angle between thebelt and the obstacle is in the preset angle range, the main body passesover the obstacle without causing slippage between the belt and theobstacle.
 14. A moving robot performing automatic traveling, the movingrobot comprising: a main body; a drive assembly moving the main body;and a cleaner head to clean a surface area, wherein the drive assemblyincludes: a plurality of pulleys; a motor connected to any one of theplurality of pulleys and generating a driving force; a belt in contactwith and configured to rotate along the plurality of pulleys; and asupport shaft connected to at least two of the plurality of pulleys andadjusting a shape of a polygon formed by the belt and plurality ofpulleys such that an area in which the belt is in contact with a groundor an obstacle is maintained to be equal to or greater than a referencearea, wherein when the area in which the belt is in contact with theground or the obstacle is equal to or greater than the reference area,the main body passes along the ground or over the obstacle withoutcausing slippage between the belt and the ground or the obstacle.